B.C. premier slams U.S. ambassador for saying Trump thinks Canadian boycotts are 'nasty'

B.C. Premier David Eby said he believes U.S. leadership has "very little awareness" of how offensive their remarks are, like the U.S. ambassador to Canada saying President Donald Trump thinks Canadians are "nasty" to deal with because of U.S. boycotts.  

"Do they think Canadians are not going to respond when the president says, 'I want to turn you into the 51st state and beggar you economically unless you bow to the U.S.'?" Eby said in an interview on CBC's Power & Politics Monday evening in Huntsville, Ont., where premiers are meeting this week.

"Obviously, Canadians are outraged."

Ambassador Pete Hoekstra made the remarks about Canadians avoiding U.S. travel and booze when he was speaking at the annual Pacific NorthWest Economic Region Foundation summit in Bellevue, Wash.

The Canadian Press was provided with a recording of the ambassador's comments by Eby's office, which said it received the audio from someone who was in the audience.

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Eby said in a statement that Hoekstra's remarks show Canadians' efforts to stand up to Trump are "having an impact," and he encouraged people to "keep it up."

The ambassador made the remarks in response to a question from a conference moderator about what could be done to get people travelling again as Vancouver and Seattle prepare to host games as part of next year's FIFA World Cup.

"Canadians staying home, that's their business, you know. I don't like it, but if that's what they want to do, it's fine. They want to ban American alcohol. That's fine," Hoekstra said.

"There are reasons why the president and some of his team referred to Canada as being mean and nasty to deal with, OK, because of some of those steps."

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Eby says regular Americans understand

Hoekstra added that he "can get alcohol across the border if [he] wanted to."

"We go back and forth to Michigan and they don't check my car when I come back," he said, drawing laughs from the crowd.

In a statement to CBC News, a U.S. Embassy spokesperson said Hoekstra spoke for nearly an hour and, in response to a question, pointed out that some Canadian provinces banning the sale of U.S. alcohol does not contribute to a positive relationship.

"As Ambassador Hoekstra has expressed on several occasions, the U.S. government sees the provincial bans on U.S. alcohol as counterproductive to resolving the broader issues," the spokesperson said. "Throughout his remarks, Ambassador Hoekstra emphasized his optimism about the future of the U.S.-Canada relationship."

On Power & Politics, Eby said Canadians should "stick with it, hold the line, but at the end of the day, we need to get past that."

The premier said he believes Americans don't share their government's stance. 

"They're saying things like, 'I'm sorry.' We're friends. We're neighbours. We're partners. Canadians feel the same way about everyday Americans and I think the president is out on his own on this," Eby said. 

B.C. is among the provinces that banned the sale of U.S. alcohol from government-run stores after Trump slapped steep tariffs on goods from Canada, a move that has prompted some Canadians to cancel their cross-border trips.